The programme Procalsol that started in 2007 will end in December 2012. It has been Mexico’s first long-term scheme to support solar water heating with the aim of reaching a newly installed collector area of 1.8 million m² (including pool heating) between 2008 and 2012. Experts disagree on whether the end of Procalsol will influence the solar thermal market in the country. So much is clear: Procalsol has fallen short of its annual goals since 2009.

After more than a year of preparation, solar thermal heating manufacturer Sunrain Solar Energy has finally gone public on 21 May 2012. At exactly 9pm, company founder and President Xinjian Xu (right hand side in the photo) hit the big gong together with the mayor of Lianyungang (Jiangsu province) where Sunrain’s headquarters are located. Under order code 603366, a total number of 80 million stocks were offered on the Main Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange at a price of USD 21.50. Sunrain is the first “solar thermal only” company in China which succeeded in becoming listed on the stock market.

The - literally - hottest collector innovation comes from Switzerland. TVP Solar has developed an insulated high-vacuum flat plate collector which supplies a heat transfer fluid between 100 and 200°C. This makes it an ideal thermal energy source for cooling and heating applications in the medium temperature range. The MT-Power panel was introduced at the European Future Energy Forum in Geneva last autumn and has now been nominated for the Intersolar Award 2012.

20 solar years, 50 years of age, one success story: This was the motto under which Austrian collector manufacturer Greenonetec celebrated the company’s 20th anniversary and the 50th birthday of its CEO Robert Kanduth (shown in the picture with his wife Helvig) on 13 April 2012. Over the last 20 years, Kanduth has not only been successful in leading his company, which is the number one flat plate collector manufacturer worldwide, but also in acting as the chairman of the Austrian industry association Austria Solar.

In February, Ulrich Fritzsche took the collector manufacturers that were gathered at the SMEThermal 2012 conference on a special tour around the globe. The Director of the Technical Competence Center Solar Thermal at TÜV Rheinland listed the collector standards and quality guidelines across the world’s key solar thermal markets: Australia, Brazil, China, India, Turkey and the USA. All of this could change next year when the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) will adopt its new collector standard ISO 9806. The new world standard will make it easier to agree on globally uniform testing requirements and to remove existing national norms and standards for solar collectors.

From 13 to 15 June 2012, solar thermal professionals from all over the world will, once again, gather in Munich, Germany, to attend the international solar trade fair Intersolar Europe. The fair’s German organiser, the Solar Promotion GmbH, expects around 80,000 industry professionals from 150 countries. The booths of solar thermal companies will be set up in halls B1 and B2. The related Solar Thermal Conference will take place just one day before the trade fair starts on 12 June.